Career Planning - Step 3: My Living Blueprint

As a result of participating in Step 2 of this Career Development Program, you have gained valuable insight about the four most appealing aspects to most all you do in your life, which are core to your life purpose. Based on these four words, you will want to assess to what extent your current life allows you to experience them either at home, at work, in school, volunteer activities, hobbies, etc. If you determine that there are not enough of these four types of experiences in your life currently, you may want to think about making some changes.

In Step 3, you will combine what you have learned in the prior steps by creating your very own Living Blueprint™. A Living Blueprint is a visual representation of the things that you want out of your life. It is a collection of images, words and symbols that speak to issues like career, family, health and prosperity aspirations. The reason it is called a Living Blueprint is that it will continue to take shape over time expanding and evolving as you and your objectives continue to evolve. As your life evolves, you can add new images, words and symbols, as well as revisit and adjust prior choices by placing new images, words or symbols on top of prior ones.

By starting your Living Blueprint now, you will begin a very profound and valuable process. This process will take what is intangible, such as your ideas about who you are and what you want out of life, and make them tangible through selecting images, words and symbols that express those ideas. To begin, pull together the following materials.

• A large sheet (11" x 17" minimum) of white construction paper, card stock or poster board
• A photograph of yourself
• Miscellaneous photos of family and friends
• Miscellaneous print publications; magazines, newspapers, web pages, etc.
• Writing instruments; pen, pencil, colored markers, paint, highlighters, etc.
• Adhesive; preferably a glue stick, yet tape or rubber cement is also suitable

Don't worry about whether you have all of the photographs or print publications that you may need. Over time, you will add additional images as you come across them and as your ideas about who you are and what you want continue to evolve.

The first step in constructing your Living Blueprint is to paste the photograph of yourself in the very center of your white paper. This must be a photograph that you like and may also have further significance, such as a birthday, wedding, graduation, award ceremony or other special event. It should be big enough to recognize that it is you, but no so big as to take up more than approximately 5% to 10% of the whole sheet of paper or poster board.

The next step is to write anywhere on the paper in any color and any size, the four words that you identified in Step 2 that mean the most to you.

Next, begin thinking about major categories that are important to you and your life. This may be family, friends, career interests, hobbies and volunteer activities, as well as personal issues, such as spiritual, mental and physical health, and prosperity aspirations. Not all of these categories will be of interest to everyone and each will likely be different in terms of priority and the level of importance in life overall.

Below is a representative example of some of the categories and related questions that you may want to be thinking about as you approach this exercise.

The placement, categories and related questions introduced above are suggestive only. There are no required categories and there is no right or wrong way to place images, words and symbols on your Living Blueprint. The more you participate in this self-discovery process in a relaxed and spontaneous manner, the more you will enjoy it and the more productive will be the outcome.

With a general idea about some of the categories that are of interest to you, spread out the print publications, photographs, printed web pages and writing instruments. As ideas come to mind and pictures begin to stand out, cut, paste, write and draw images, words and symbols on the paper that express what you want in your life and how you see yourself relative to the different aspects of your life that are important to you. There is no order to this process. When you see an image, symbol or think of a word that resonates with what you want out of your career, social or personal life, place it on your Living Blueprint.

What will begin to evolve is a colorful, dynamic visual representation of the things that are most important to you. Spend an hour or so with this exercise the first time and then set it aside where you can see it often. For example, tack it to the inside of your closet door so that you can look at it at the start and close of each day. Place a pen on a string hanging from one of the thumb tacks so that you can spontaneously write down another word, sentence or symbol that comes to mind. In a week or so, sit down again for an hour and add more visual elements.

This process of visualization will reveal to you critical details of who you are and what you view as most important in your life. By transforming these perspectives and values into visual representations, you are giving your dreams, hopes and aspirations life. For some people, their Living Blueprint will evolve into sections where career objectives reside in one general area of the paper, family and social life in another. For others, images, words, and symbols about what is important to them in all aspects of their life may be more spontaneously placed. Whatever begins to evolve for you is the best approach for you.

By placing your Living Blueprint where you can see it each day, you are helping yourself to remain conscious of your objectives while reinforcing your desire to fulfill them. You are also providing yourself with opportunities to add new ideas and refine prior ones. It is natural that your life will change over time and with it, your ideas about what is important to you will change. Again, there is no right or wrong approach. The key is to enjoy your life to the fullest. Knowing what is important to you is the first step.

Below is one example of what a Living Blueprint may look like after about ten years of playing at self-discovery.

A Living Blueprint can be a fun and transformative process. By visualizing what it is that you want from your life, you move that much closer to making your dreams a reality. As introduced above, the Living Blueprint is something that will evolve and change over time just like you do. The important thing, however, is to begin the process by creating one starting with a picture of you in the center and the four words that are most appealing to you. After that, let the process unfold naturally as you do.

After you have spent at least an hour developing your Living Blueprint, jot down some of your ideas by responding the following questions. When finished, enter your email address in the field provided to receive a copy. If you are working with a mentor or other trusted advisor, enter their email address along with your name so that they will also receive a copy of this information.

Newsletter Subscribe

As featured in:

www.BUZGate.org | A Knowledge Institute project, all rights reserved Copyright ©2010
c/o PO Box 219, E. Kingston, NH 03827 USA | Terms of Use
Contact Us | About Us | Privacy | Add Content | Webmaster | Underwrite Content

All content is state specific requiring you to choose a state to view small business resources.
AK AL AR AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL GA HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD ME MI MN MO MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR OZ PA PR RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VT WA WI WV WY

Free Small Business Help Resources | Free Small Business Solutions
Free Small Business Start-Up Resources | Free Small Business Growth Resources
Free Small Business Funding Resources | Free Small Business Training Resources
Free Small Business Network Resources | Free Small Business Success System